By Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
Voice of America reports:
The U.N. food aid agency said Thursday that its aid to North Korea’s vulnerable people dropped 44 percent last month because of a lack of funds.
A World Food Program spokesman said the organization in September provided 2,105 tons of food to 742,000 people who depend on external assistance, including pregnant women and children.
Last month’s amount was also significantly less than what the U.N. agency planned to provide. The agency’s goal was to provide 10,000 tons of food to 1.8 million people every month.
Recently, the agency scaled down distribution areas to 69 counties and cities across the country.
“The main reason for distributing less food in September was insufficient funding resources,” wrote Damian Kean, WFP’s regional communications officer, in an email to VOA.
To fund projects this year, the agency needs about $167.8 million, but it has secured only half of the amount so far, according to the agency’s website.
The FAO has also highlighted the problem. As mentioned in another post, while the North Korean government claims success for agricultural reforms and claims that the drought impact was very limited, international aid agencies paint a different picture. But data confusion is nothing unusual for North Korea, and perhaps the picture will change as both the North Korean government and multilateral agencies continue to reassess the situation.
Read the full article:
Cash-strapped World Food Program Cuts Aid to N. Korea
10-01-2015
